January 24, 2019
Good morning dearest readers.
Our government’s shutdown is now five weeks old, and workers who need the money are about to miss their second straight paycheck. There is no end in sight as everyone continues to give a clinic in circling the wagons. The usual people are saying the usual things but we elected everyone there. This is all our fault. We elected it and we are tolerating it.
THE DAILY ALMANAC
On This Date:
In 1972 – Japanese Army Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi is found by two fishermen in the Guam jungle he’d been hiding in since the end of World War II. His unit had reported to Guam in 1943 and had gone into hiding with nine others after the US took control of the island. The other nine had either left Guam or died there and Sgt Yokoi would later say he knew the war was over, but he thought it dishonorable to surrender. He died in 1997 at the age 82.
In 1989 – Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida for the 1987 murder of a 12-year-old girl. Bundy had two other death sentences pending and in his final days began singing like a canary about other murders he’d committed in the hopes of putting off his death. Bundy passed on eating his final meal of steak and eggs and reports indicated he had spent his last night weeping and praying, neither of which did any good and Bundy was ashen and scared when we walked into the death chamber. The exact number of girls and women he killed will never be known.
Your Hit Parade
#1 songs on this date in 1981:
Hot 100 – (Just Like) Starting Over – John Lennon (5th of five weeks)
Soul Chart – Celebration…Kool and the Gang (6th of six weeks)
Country Chart – 9 to 5…Dolly Parton (only week)
Album Chart – Double Fantasy…John Lennon and Yoko Ono (5th of eight weeks)
– Chart data courtesy of Billboard.
Numbers Racket
10,627: the continuous number of days the US has been at war.
21.956: the number of dollars, in trillions, of America’s national debt. – Source: usdebtclock.org
652: days until Election Day 2020.
Philosophy 101
No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.
John Locke
There are a variety of ways to learn in this life. We can educate ourselves or we can utilize the resources of a great university. However, we can only write so many notes and take so many tests: there comes a time when we have to start our journey. This where real learning begins. You can gather all the theoretical knowledge there is, but until you’ve applied it in your daily life, until you’ve tested whether it’s true or not, until you know, you won’t be certain because a burnt hand remains the very best teacher.
For example, I can tell you about wisdom, courage and patience being keys to success with modest authority not because I read it somewhere, but because I’ve learned it myself over the years, mostly from assorted failures, but also from some modest attainments.
Of course, we can learn a lot in school. But all education is self-education. What’s important is being on our path, living the life we were meant to live and putting nature and circumstance to work for us so we can learn, and apply, the lessons life has for us.
xoxoxo
Kaitlyn